He trippin'

Posted on Thu Sep 20th, 2012 @ 5:49pm by Jasper Crayton

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Promenade and Cravings
Timeline: early afternoon

“Do you NOT see me walking here?!...Huh?!...Get out of the way you alien piece of…!”

Jasper’s anger and contempt was apparent in his choice of words, and although she’d been simply going about her own business on the promenade, the Bajoran woman who just happened to be in his way, was the focus of it all. Suddenly aware of the looks he was getting on the crowded promenade from some, he said no more. He didn’t want to cause a scene or draw any unnecessary attention to himself, but he was angry and, true to form, finding it easy to take it out on those around him. He’d just had a simple procedure done in one of the promenade shops to implant a hidden music player in his head and so far he was not happy with the results. He couldn't simply chalk it all up to ignorance and wait until he could figure out how to use it; all he knew was that it was not working for him. He was having trouble remembering what the command was to close the menu he was seeing floating in front of him. Of course nothing was really floating in front of him, but he and only he, could see it nonetheless. His vision was partially blocked, and rather than carefully pick his way through the crowd so as not to bump into anyone, he angrily barreled ahead. Yelling at people to get out of his way, pushing some and cursing at others for not moving out of his way fast enough; he didn’t care.

Finally arriving at his destination, Cravings, Jasper came face to face with the man who, to his own way of thinking, was the cause of his problem. The salesman who’d sold him the implant was coming out of the front door of the restaurant. Jasper didn’t smile back at the man when the man smiled at him, but instead stuck his foot out in front of him as he passed, to trip him. No one saw him do it, it seemed, and afterward, casually and without hesitation, he walked into the restaurant as though nothing had happened. The man, a fashionably dressed Arcadian man, was caught completely by surprise and was easily tripped. He went flying. At a pitch most commonly thought to be reserved for females of a species, the young man screamed, and fell face first into the food order he’d been carrying out the door. Jasper continued on into the restaurant passing some Arcadian women quickly on their way out. Some were guests in the restaurant and some were wait staff, but all had heard the unmistakable sound of an Arcadian man in distress and were rushing to his aid. The wait staff, still on the clock, was threatened as they rushed out by their boss and the proprietor of Cravings with termination if they did not return at once to their jobs. But, with a chivalrous focus on the injured man, who happened to be one of their favorite regular customers and viewed with much admiration, they were oblivious to their bosses threats of termination and continued on out the door. It was at that moment, when he heard the proprietor’s threats to his employees, that Jasper remembered the command.

Triumphantly he said, “Terminate menu”, and the menu that had been blocking his vision, vanished.

Jasper thought it no wonder he’d forgotten the command, as it was unusual, at least to some humans, to say terminate menu instead of close menu and he told himself he would have to figure out how to change it; perhaps using a built in help menu; if he could find it.

On his way to the main dining area, Jasper paused to look out one of the front windows of the restaurant onto the promenade. He could see the man he’d tripped sitting on the floor crying, his face and the front of his expensive shirt covered in the food he’d been carrying. Doting on him were three Arcadian women, trying their best to help and comfort the distraught man. Jasper’s human eyes marveled at the sight of the obvious role reversals.

Now sitting at a table waiting for his order to be made, Jasper was fast becoming a fan of his new implant. He’d figured the out controls, and, as the implant began to fill his head with music, music that brought about fond memories of times on Earth, his eyes closed and a smile came to his face. All his senses, but one, suspended, and he was happily lost in the music.

He’d always said he would never risk letting anyone play with his brain and have a device implanted into his head. But ever since taking his greatest risk ever by fearlessly picking up his whole life and moving half way across the galaxy, it had become easier to see things less in terms of risk and more in terms of opportunity.

Just then, a smell sweet like roses came to Jasper’s nose and, upon opening his eyes, was happy to see his waiter, another slight Arcadian man, had brought his food. He also realized, judging from the expression on the waiter’s face that he must have looked strange sitting at his table all alone: eyes closed, smiling, and moving slightly to music only he could hear. The expression on the waiter’s face was a mixture of confusion and shy amusement. When he took a step forward to hand Jasper the bag containing his food, the rose smell wafted up into Jasper’s nose and he knew then that the young man was wearing a fragrance. His eyes never met Jasper’s for more than a second at a time. His small hand trembled as Jasper tried to put his tip in it; so much so that Jasper had to grab his hand with his own free hand to steady it. A blush came over the young man’s face and he was obviously embarrassed. Jasper watched him as he walked away; he’d never seen a man look so soft, weak and demure.

As it turned out, all the employees in the restaurant were Arcadian. No wonder Tulira had recommended the restaurant, he thought.

Jasper took his dinner, which he would eat later, and went out and over to his shop to relieve Tulira.